Abstract [en]

Background: An organization cannot only rely on how they have been accustomed to doing things in the past, rather they have to be willing to change and adapt in order to be successful in the present as well as the future by achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage. The ability to have a successful core business, be profitable today and also be able to predict future possibilities is a key for organizations that aim at being successful in the long term. Ambidexterity deals with these issues. An ambidextrous organization aims to balance the capability to exploit the present and exploring the future simultaneously. Therefore, it is an essential factor for the long term survival of firms.

Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to study ambidexterity with regard to SMEs in the service sector.

Completion: This study is based on a qualitative research which is conducted as a single case study on Mediakonsulterna as a firm.

Conclusions: The study shows that ambidexterity can be applied in a SME in the service sector. Furthermore, there are different approaches as to how ambidexterity can be applied as discussed in this study. More specifically, the study concludes that a contextual approach to ambidexterity is viable when firms lack the resources and size for implementing ambidexterity through structural measures. This means that a SME in the service sector can conduct ambidexterity on an individual level throughout the company rather than relying on a structural division of separate units. In order to apply ambidexterity, SMEs rely to a large amount on individuals to balance the different activities such as exploitation and exploration